The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the groups for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021, which is scheduled to take place in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 17 to November 14.

Defending champions West Indies, along with England, Australia, South Africa are a part of Group 1 with two qualifiers from Round 1 joining them. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and New Zealand, and the other two qualifiers from Round 1 are in Group 2 of Super 12s. ICC's Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said, "We are delighted to announce the groups for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021. There are some great matchups offered by the groups and it starts to bring the event to life for our fans as our first multi-team event since the onset of the global pandemic draws closer."

Speaking about the tournament being held at Oman, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly mentioned, "It is good to get Oman in the frame of world cricket with the hosting of the T20 World Cup. It will help a lot of young players take an interest in the game. We know it will be a world class event.

Round 1 (Qualifying stage):

Group A - Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia

Group B - Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Oman

Super 12s (Final round):

Group 1 - Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, A1, B2

Group 2 - India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, B1, A2

?? Some mouth-watering match-ups in the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men's #T20WorldCup 2021 ??

Which clash are you most looking forward to?

?? https://t.co/Z87ksC0dPk pic.twitter.com/7aLdpZYMtJ

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) July 16, 2021